The Victorian government has on Sunday unveiled changes to the coronavirus restrictions that apply around the state.
Within those changes there are a number of differences that apply to business and industry.
Below is a list of some of the changes that will apply from 11.59pm on Sunday night and under the next planned easing of the rules on November 1.
This is a breaking story that will be updated so please come back to check for new information.
Work
From 11.59pm on Sunday, partial return to work for specified industries otherwise work from home if you can.
All businesses will be required to have a COVIDSafe Plan for onsite operations.
Permit groups of up to 5 workers to return to onsite work for certain low risk, outdoor work, including:
- Outdoor non-essential home maintenance and repairs;
- Car washing – standalone automatic car washes, single person car washing, self service car washing;
- Mobile pet grooming and pet grooming at home businesses, contactless only with strict controls;
- Outdoor photography for purposes other than currently permitted purposes, e.g. media, real estate estimated at < 500 ;
- Letterboxing (for purposes other than local elections);
- Solar power installers; and
- The increased limits also apply to outdoor workers previously permitted to work alone.
Food industry
From 11.59pm on Sunday:
- High risk food industries: additional obligations including regular surveillance testing of the workforce, nightly deep cleaning, separating workers into consistent teams/bubbles to maintain separation, and providing regular worker training;
- Poultry processing facilities: increase the daily peak workforce capacity and daily total workforce capacity for poultry processing facilities to 90 per cent for metropolitan Melbourne and 90 per cent for regional Victoria. Increase the weekly peak workforce capacity and weekly total workforce capacity for poultry processing facilities to 90 per cent for regional Victoria;
- Abattoirs and meat processing facilities: increase the daily peak workforce capacity and daily total workforce capacity for Abattoirs and meat processing facilities to 80 per cent for metropolitan Melbourne and 90 per cent for regional Victoria. Increase the weekly peak workforce capacity and weekly total workforce capacity for Abattoirs and meat processing facilities to 90 per cent for regional Victoria; and
- Seafood processing facilities: increase the daily peak workforce capacity and daily total workforce capacity for Seafood processing facilities to 80 per cent for metropolitan Melbourne and 90 per cent for regional Victoria. Increase the weekly peak workforce capacity and weekly total workforce capacity for Seafood processing facilities to 90 per cent for regional Victoria.
From 11.59pm on November 1:
- Poultry processing facilities: increase the daily peak workforce capacity and daily total workforce capacity for Poultry processing facilities to 90 per cent for metropolitan Melbourne. Some restrictions eased for other select industries;
- Abattoirs and meat processing facilities: increase the daily peak workforce capacity and daily total workforce capacity for Abattoirs and meat processing facilities to 80 per cent for metropolitan Melbourne;
Retail and services
From 11.59pm Sunday night:
- Hairdressing to reopen with strict rules on operation;
- No change to retail beyond real estate and hairdressing.
- Pet grooming: contactless onsite operations (retail) for animal welfare purposes.
- Indoor pools can open up for one-on-one hydrotherapy with a health professional; and
- All allied health professionals already operating would be able to resume face-to-face care.
From 11.59, November 1:
- Hairdressing, beauty and personal care services can open (allowed to prepare for opening from 28 October), with requirement that only services where the client can wear a face covering for the duration of the service or procedure are permitted (e.g. manicures, pedicures, body waxing, tattooing);
- Pet grooming: open with a COVIDsafe plan; and
- All retail open, subject to density quotient and allowed to open for preparation from 28 October.
Accommodation
From 11.59pm on Sunday:
- No changes to current rules.
From 11.59, November 1:
- Open but each group booking is restricted to: only members of a single household; OR only intimate partners; OR only members of a single household and 2 others (plus dependents that cannot be left unattended or cared for in another setting); AND cannot stay with people living in a restricted area; AND members of separately booked groups do not share bedrooms at the facility.
Entertainment
From 11.59pm on Sunday:
- No change for theatre, cinema, auditorium, gallery, museum, arena, stadium, animal facilities (e.g. zoos).
From 11.59pm, November 1, for theatre, cinema, auditorium, gallery, museum, arena, stadium, animal facilities (e.g. zoos):
- Non-seated outdoor spaces (large outdoor areas where people are unlikely to congregate, such as zoos or live museums like Sovereign Hill) can open. Conditions include that the rules exclude events, indoor spaces closed, outdoor spaces open with density quotient, patron caps (consistent with those for outdoor food and drink facilities as described above), a COVIDSafe Plan, venues with 500 or more capacity at one time must publish their COVIDSafe Plan online prior to opening.
- Seated outdoor spaces (intended to be used sitting down, fixed or allocated seated spaces/zones). Conditions include: – Use reasonable endeavours to implement relevant recommendations by the Victorian government to manage public health risks arising out of operation of the facility; Indoor spaces closed with exceptions for broadcasting and professional sport;
– Outdoor spaces open with a maximum of 10 people per group, groups must be 1.5 metres apart from each other and seated. If fixed seating: patron cap of 50 people or 25 per cent of the venue’s fixed seat capacity, whichever is lower. If no fixed seating but allocated seated spaces/zones then opening allowed with a density quotient and maximum of 50 patrons; - Drive-in cinemas outdoor space open, no seating outside vehicles permitted;
- Arenas and stadiums can operate for exclusive use by a single school at any one time for education purposes;
- Retail betting venues can open if wholly contained within a licensed premises: open, subject to both licenced premises and retail restrictions, including seated only service, density quotient, signage requirement (within the licensed premises), records requirement (within the licensed premises), cleaning requirement;
- Retail betting not wholly contained within a licensed premises: open subject to requirements on open retail, i.e. density quotient, cleaning and signage requirements. Patrons must remain seated unless they are placing a bet, using the toilet, or entering or leaving the venue.
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